LOS ANGELES – (INT) - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers captured and removed the 300th foreign fugitive apprehended by the agency since October 2014, which marked the start of fiscal year 2015.

Of the 300 removals, 59 involved foreign fugitives originally arrested in California, including an accused mass murderer captured in Santa Cruz County wanted for killing seven members of a family in Oaxaca more than two decades ago. In Southern California, Los Angeles-based ERO officers located and captured a Mexico City sushi chef in June who is accused of slashing a female companion to death in the backseat of a taxi earlier this year using one of his sushi knives.

“Arresting and removing these kinds of fugitives is the lifeblood of what our officers do every day,” said the Executive Associate Director of ICE ERO Tom Homan. “Protecting the American people by taking dangerous criminal aliens off our streets has been and will always be our first priority.”

The 300th capture was Elmer Francisco Reyes, a 30-year-old Honduran man wanted for aggravated sexual assault by Honduran law enforcement authorities. On July 17, ERO officers in Miami, along with the Miami Beach Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, tracked Reyes to a Miami Beach residence and took him into custody. Reyes was removed to Honduras July 31.

The majority of the 300 arrests occurred in California, Florida and Texas. Most of the arrestees are violent criminals who had been convicted of, or are wanted for violent crimes, including murder (101); sexual offenses (15); assault (13); kidnapping (10); and robbery (13).

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 1,150 foreign fugitives from the U.S. who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes.

Story Date: August 18, 2015